Broadband- Connecting for health,

education and civic engagement.

July 20,2010 Municipal Clerks Institute

Paul Treadwell
Cornell Cooperative Extension
Distance Learning Consultant
What is Broadband?
• High speed data transmission.
• Always on connection.
• Encompassing a variety of technologies.
Why Broadband Matters
• Now, broadband is essential to opportunity and
citizenship.
▫ Connecting America: The National Broadband
Plan
 http://www.broadband.gov/
Why Now?
• National Broadband Plan released March 2010.
• Stimulus funding and re-invigoration of Federal
Programs supporting broadband.
• Increased understanding of competitive
advantages brought by access.
The National Broadband Plan
• FCC March 2010:
▫ Presents an ambitious agenda for expanding
access.
▫ Emphasis on technology as “enabling”.
▫ Robust vision of connectivity.
 Broadband Adoption

Exhibit 3-1 from Connecting America | FCC March 2010

The Digital Divide
• Is the gap between people with effective access
to digital and information technology and those
with very limited or no access at all.
• Is a kind of capability deprivation.
▫ As the “world” moves online, those who aren’t are
excluded.
Growing Expectations
• Citizens are, increasingly, expecting services to
become available online:
▫ Shopping
▫ Paying Bills
▫ Interacting with elected officials
▫ Organizing
The Internet
The Civic Net
More than Bandwidth or Access
• The fuss about broadband, then, extends beyond
access to information to active participation in
the online commons.
▫ Broadband: What’s All the Fuss About? Pew Internet and American Life Project
Marketplace and/or Commons
• 2 ways of viewing the internet:
▫ Marketplace:
 Access to goods
 Buying and selling

▫ Commons:
 Access to ideas
 Interaction and exchange
How do You See Broadband?
• What role can it play?
Broadband Enabled Services
• E-government
▫ Providing access to government information
▫ Providing space for engagement
• E-commerce
▫ Access to the global marketplace
• Technology training / digital literacy/ civic
literacy
Case study – Ontario county
• Ontario County e-government
▫ http://www.co.ontario.ny.us/
▫ Access to governmental information
▫ Online survey for community input
Case study – Threadless
• E-Commerce and the crowd:
 http://www.threadless.com/
Case Study – Engaged Youth
• Civic learning:
▫ Engaged Youth
 http://www.engagedyouth.org/
Case Study – Squeaky Wheel
• Digital/Media Literacy:
▫ Squeaky Wheel
 http://www.squeaky.org/
Barriers to Adoption
• Availability.
• Cost.
• Exclusion.
▫ Literacy.
• Security.
Sustainable communities
• Broadband should be a component of any
platform for sustainability.
▫ Connecting (rural) communities to the world.

▫ Sustaining locality.
Civic participation
• Bringing it back home:
▫ Tools for online engagement:
 National Coalition for Dialog and Deliberation
 http://www.thataway.org/

 my.barackobama.com
 http://my.barackobama.com/
▫ National project connecting local participants
Education
• Broadband opens up a channel to media rich
educational opportunities:
▫ MIT OpenCourseware:
 http://ocw.mit.edu
▫ ScienceVideos:
 http://sciencehack.com/
▫ Youtube:
 Teachertube:
 http://www.teachertube.com/
Opportunities
• Resurgence of funding opportunities creates a
space for innovative programming.
• Current Extension programming
▫ National e-Commerce Extension Initiative.
 http://srdc.msstate.edu/ecommerce/
▫ Connecting rural communities.
▫ Others?
Innovating
• Digital literacy:
 For community.
 For educators.
 Skills for an online world
• Community brainstorming:
▫ Games to spark planning around technology.
 Useful Games
 http://www.usefulgames.co.uk/
Appropriate Technology ?
• Change is coming, continually
• Understanding the transformative power of
connectivity is necessary.
• Change is not, necessarily, good.
▫ Wise decisions will need to be made about when,
where and how to use the power of this
connectivity.
The value of open networks
• “Strangely enough, digital technologies are
forcing us to recognize the power of the
collective and social” - David Bollier
▫ The Commons as a New Sector of Value-Creation
 http://www.onthecommons.org/content.php?id=18
13
• Open standards-Open source-Open networks
Resources
• Documents, sites and case studies referenced in
this presentation are available online at:
▫ http://ccedigitaldivide.pbworks.com/Clerks2010
Contact
• Paul Treadwell
▫ Distance Learning Consultant
▫ Cornell Cooperative Extension
▫ 356 Roberts Hall
▫ Cornell University
▫ Ithaca, NY 14853
▫ pt36@cornell.edu
▫ http://www.paultreadwell.com
▫ @ptreadwell